The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Howdy \How"dy\, n. [Scot., also houdy- wife. Of uncertain origin; cf. OSw. jordgumma; or perh. fr. E. how d'ye.] A midwife. [Prov. Eng.] [1913 Webster]WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
howdy n 1: an expression of greeting; "every morning they exchanged polite hellos" [syn: hello, hullo, hi, howdy, how- do-you-do]